WILLIAM A. WHITE (1844 to after 1900)

Last Updated 16 Oct 2017

Introduction

Here you can see what I learned about William White, the believed
step-father of our ancestor James White; about his pension application
for his service in the Civil War; about his father Adolphus White who
migrated from Pendleton District, South Carolina to Paulding County,
Georgia, on the Polk County line; and about Adolphus White's believed
first cousin, Yancey White, who -- having the opportunity, the motive,
and the means -- is quite possibly the biologial father of James White.
Yancey White left the White home in Pendleton District, South Carolina,
for Georgia, some decades after Adolphus, and settled in southern Floyd
County, Georgia. Yancey White lived at Thomas' Mills in the Livingston
District, which at the time included Foster's Mill District and the
community of State Line. At State Line lived Burwell S. Harbour, his
wife Josephine (Bale), and his servant Mary. Upon emancipation the
latter took the name Mary Adams and gave her children born before
emancipation, Josephine and James, the surname Adams. In 1880 he is
named James White. Both Yancey and William White had unconventional
marriages. Yancey had a string of affairs and serial marriages with
young women, while William gives the appearance of a lifetime of bigamy.

This page tells the story as put together from the references you
will see in other sections.

1861
Fall He was “well and
stout when he went into the army but in the latter part of 1861 he was
taken with sciatic rheumatism and bronchitis.”

1862 Jun
1 Discharged from that company after
about 12 months (conflict with roster).

1862
Fall In fall of year
joined Capt Houlands Co [Howard, Co. K], 60th Ga Reg. and
discharged for disability in 1863. Total service was about 18 months,
he says.

1862 Fall
White joined the 60th
Infantry Regiment that had been formed in Troup County. There was a
Capt. William H. Howard of Co. K, only captain beginning with an
“H”. The same list shows White, William to be a private in
company K. ( William White stated he served a second time in “Capt.
Houlands” company in the 60th Ga Reg.) (Troup County GaGenWeb,
posted by C.W. Barnum
-http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~gatroup2/60thregimentinfantry2.htm)

1863
Sometime in that year was discharged at Gordonsville, Va for disability
caused by rheumatism and bronchitis.

1870
He lived at State Line, Floyd Co. Ga with domestic servant Mary Adams,
her daughter Josephine Adams and her son James Adams. He was a farm
laborer, possibly for Burwell Harbour.

1870 Alternate possibility: The William White in the cabin of Mary
Adams gave his age as 38 (b. 1832). A William White of that age lived,
in 1880, just across the line from that cabin, in Alabama Township 10,
Range 11, in beat 1 or 5. If it was the older man, he lived there
strictly as a laborer, and it does not change my conjecture that the
Paulding County William A. White, a cousin of James' biological father,
was Mary's and James' rescuer. Or the man living there was our William
White whose age was written wrong.

1874-76
He paid tax in Livingston District of Floyd County on personal
property. No land.

1875
He married Sally and began to have children. (1900 census)

1882-3
Says youngest daughter was born.

1884
June Next to youngest son George
was born in Alabama. (1900 census)

1885 Dec
2 Son John William White born in Ga.

1890 Apr
12 Became totally disabled and unable to work 4 years
before application dated Apr 1895.

1893
Wiliam
paid 1893 taxes in Floyd County as certified by the Tax Collector Jno.
Black 8 Apr 1895. William A. White returned [declared] for taxes in
1893 in Floyd County household & kitchen items, $20; Stock of all
kinds, $60; total $80.

1893-94
William was unable to work but was support by one of his boys farming.

1894 Jan
1 Residence was Gordon County in
1894.

1894 Dec
15 Pension Act approved.

1895 Apr
8 Statement from Floyd County Tax
Collector Jno. Black that William A. White returned [declared] for
taxes in 1893 in Floyd County household & kitchen items, $20; Stock
of all kinds, $60; total $80.

1895 Apr
12 Submitted application and swore to truth of it. He
requests $100 for the year.

1895 Apr
12 Lives now at Phelps P.O., Whitfield County, Ga.

1895 Apr
12 Has lived in Ga. About 51 years (his whole life)

1895 Apr
12 He has no property but a little household goods
worth less than $25. He had a cow in 1893 and 1894 that he had to sell
to get corn.

1895 Apr
12 He is married. Wife living. He has 4 boys and 2
girls, all of age except one boy of 10 and 1 girl of 12 at home.

1895 Apr
15 James H. Whitfield of West Rome, Floyd County, Ga.
gave a deposition that he is acquainted with William White. He served
in the same Company as William White. (Co. D, 20th Ga.) and
says White’s service was one year.

1895 Apr
18 Deposition in Whitfield County by Charles P.
Gordon and J. C. Bivings, M.D.’s, say his exact condition is as
follows: “Chron. Bronchitis with Sciatic Rheumatism, causing such
disability as to render him unable to earn a support for himself by
manual labor.”

1895 Apr
18 White gave power of attorney to Richard Johnson,
Secretary of Executive Department of Atlanta Ga. for receiving and
forwarding pension.

1897 Jan
6 William A. White filed a second
Indigent Soldier Pension Application in Floyd County. He had nothing. I
saw nothing new.

1900 June 1-21. W.
A. White (b. Oct 1844) was in Fairview, Hollis District of Etowah County, Alabama
with wife Sally (b. Aug 1856), and son George (b. June 1884). He rented
a house. Oddly, Mrs. L. C. White, (b. Aug. 1842) widow, lived nearby on
a farm she owned and had boarders.

1914 Jan
22 His son John William White died at Centre,
Ala. He was 28 and single. Sarah E. White was the son's mother as
stated on the death record and William A. White was the father. The son
was buried at Tate's Chapel Cemetery. -"Alabama Deaths,
1908-1974," database, FamilySearch
https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:JDDJ-MYR : 27 November 2014),
William A. White in entry for Jno. William White, 22 Jan 1914; citing
reference cn 565, Department of Health, Montgomery; FHL microfilm
1,894,106.

OVERVIEW

His parents, birth and childhood

The key find was William A. White's Confederate Civil War Pension
Application of 1895. In it he names one of his wives, Sally or Sarah,
other people and events, and his birthdate of Oct 15, 1844. He was not
38 as reported on the 1870 census, but 25.

William White’s father Adolphus White (b. 1811) came from
South Carolina to Carroll County, Georgia, where he married Emily Davis
9 Jan 1832. His brothers William (b. 1820) and Asa (b. 1832) also
relocated to Georgia. They all made their home in Paulding County,
Georgia. When Polk County was taken from Paulding in 1851 Adolphus and
family farm fell in Polk County at Van Wert. Others in the family
fell into Utah District in Paulding. Records of both counties
must be searched. It is claimed that Martha White (b. 1828) is the
sister of Adolphus.

Adolphus and Emily White were born in South Carolina. The ten
children were born in Georgia.

For some years after the war ended William White lived in
Livingstone District of Floyd County, the only relative to live near
Yancey White.

Questions to be answered

Lucinda Brazile White said she had three children, two living as of
June 1, 1900. Who were they?

In the Army

William A. White was born 15 October 1844, the youngest son of
Adolphus and Emily White of Paulding County, Georgia.

William White enlisted in the Confederate army along with his
brother Moses B. White about as soon as anyone could enlist – on May
15, 1761. It was Company D of the 20th Georgia Regiment.
They enlisted at Cedartown in Polk County. William was aged 16 years 7
months. Moses, 27 (born about 1833), his wife Joana 23, and his
daughter Mary L. 3, lived at Van Wert post office in 1860.

Much but not all of the chronology is taken from William White’s 18
April 1895 Indigent Pension Application from Whitfield County, Georgia.
He says he was discharged from the 20th Regiment on 1 June 1862 for
sciatic rheumatism and bronchitis but the Roster of Confederate
Soldiers of Georgia reads 15 Aug 1861. On 15 August he was age 16 and
10 months.

William again enlisted in the fall of 1862 in Troup County’s Company
K of the 60th Georgia Regiment, Capt. William Howard’s
company for a total service of 18 months. William says he was
discharged from that regiment sometime in 1863 while in Gordonsville,
Virginia, again for disability caused by rheumatism and bronchitis.

William says his occupation was farming from 1865 to 1895. His
brother Moses returned from the war to Van Wert in Polk County where he
lived in 1870 and worked as a railroad laborer.

His marriages

Lucinda C. C. Brazile.
William A. White and L. C. Brazile received a marriage license in Polk County
on 14 July 1866 and were married the next day by minister Wm W.
Simpson, C.M.G. L. C. was born August 1840 (as reported in
1860 and 1900) and was one month from age 26 at her marriage. William
was age 21.

The Brazell family lived in Van Wert, district 1073, during the 1860
census (pdf):Brazell, William, 47 M farmer, $300 personal estate, born SC
Brazell, Mary G, 46 F domestic, born SC
Brazell, Lucinda C. C.,20 F domestic, born Ala.
Brazell, William C., 16 M farmer, born Ala.
The race was not indicated but white was the default. The family owned
no slaves.

Lucinda C. C. Brazell, a neighbor of the Whites, was without
doubt the woman William White married in 1866. William White
b. 1844 (age 22) and L.C. Brazile born 1840 (age 26). William White's
cousin, also named William White
(Jr.) was only 6 years of age and besides still lived with his parents
in 1880. Certainly he did not marry at age 6.

Lucinda C. White next appears 34
years after her marriage, a widowed head of household living as
a neighbor to W. A. White and wife Sally in Hollis Precinct, Etowah
County, Alabama in 1900. She was family no. 169; he was no. 130.
Obviously she was not a widow of William White, who was alive, but it
may have been the custom to say widowed due to the unacceptability of
divorce, separation or abandonment. Her birthdate was given as
August 1840. Her occupation looks like farmer, but the census-taker
McCluthery could not spell. In 1900 she owned her farm free of
mortgage. She reported she had a total of three children, two living as
of June 1, 1900. She reports she was born in South Carolina and so were
her parents.

Mary Adams

In
1870 William White lived at State Line Georgia in the house with Mary
Adams, beside the Burwell and Josephine Harbour family. There is no
evidence they are married. He was possibly her protector, and was later
the nominally adoptive father of James Adams. I find no evidence of a
marriage between William White and Mary Adams. If the man in 1870 is
the William who was the youngest son of Adolphus White, the age stated
in 1870 below should be 26, and is in error in this one source.

1875
Marriage License in Murray County, Georgia (Chattsworth) adjacent
to Whitfield.
A. J. White and Salley Taylor, issued 8th April 1875 by W.
H. Ramey, Ordinary. Married 12 April by C. D. Gilbert, J.P.
Comment: William White married Sarah in 1875, according to a statement
in the Etowah County, Alabama 1900 census. If he lived with Mary White
as husband or as protector while she was in Whitfield County, then 1875
was the time he "went out for firewood and was never seen again," as
told by Jim White. He walked from Dalton to Chattsworth and, with
a slightly disguised name, got a marriage license with Sally Taylor.
She was the only woman he lived with long term, and the only wife he
mentioned in his pension application. This is the only license I found
anywhere around showing a marriage in 1875 between a White and a Sally
somebody. William White had two or more residences in 1875: He was
being taxed in Livingston District, Floyd County; he spend some time
with Mary and his step son James in Dalton; and what about Lucinda
Brazile whom he married in 1866 in Polk County?

Tax Records1874, 1875, 1876 William A. White paid taxes in Livingston
District, Floyd County. He never had any real estate, only furnishings.
Yancey White and Mrs. E. White were two other White consistently in
that district.

Other Possibilities
To
say the 1875 marriage of Sarah Taylor in Murry County, Georgia was to
our man William using a false name, A.J. White, I have to show there is
no real A.J. White or find that Sarah Taylor married an actual A.J.
White. The search has been negative. But here is a possibility:
In the 1880 census for Cherokee County, Alabama Pleasant
Gap, Beat 4, is a John White whose wife is named Sarah. She and her
parents were born in Georgia, she in 1842 or 43. She had epilepsy. John
White was 32, born 1852 in Alabama with both parents born in South
Carolina. She died in Coffee County, Georgia where her dates are given
by Georgia Deaths Index at Ancestry.com as 23 Mar 1843 - 13 Oct 1923.
Her husband by Findagrave.com was John James White b. 1830. Her father
was John P. Wall, thus that couple is not the one of interest.

Adolphus White, father of William White:
His children, siblings, and ancestors

MIGRATION. William White’s
father Adolphus White (b. 1811) came from South Carolina to Carroll
County, Georgia, where he married Emily Davis 9 Jan 1832. His brothers
William (b. 1820) and Asa (b. 1832) also relocated to Georgia. They all
made their home in Paulding County, Georgia. When Polk County was taken
from Paulding in 1851 Adolphus and family found themselves at Van Wert
in Polk County. The others nearby fell into Utah District in Paulding.
Records of both counties must be searched. It is claimed that
Martha White (b. 1828) is the sister of Adolphus.